Multidisciplinary relationships between holism and design

Abstract

In epistemology, part of philosophy dedicated to the multiple ways in which we approach the great questions of knowledge, there are types of knowledge, such as design, that cannot be explained only by their claims to true knowledge – as is the case with the so-called "hard" sciences – but by way of acquisition, the degree of order they establish in the world.  the direction they provide to the lives of human beings and the progress they bring to humanity.

This knowledge does not "accredit" the rationality of its conceptual structures (rationality that for many is synonymous with authority and hierarchy), despite being true, it is the knowledge coming from daily experiences or perception as is the case of design whose orders escape the common possibilities of verification and, as Bertrand Russell stated,

[...] All knowledge of what is in the world, if it does not refer directly to facts known by means of perception or memory, is to be inferred from premises, at least one of which is known to us by means of perception or memory. (Russell, 1976: 136)

In spite of these difficulties, it is valid to recognize as a starting point and methodological resource, the accumulation of phenomena that throughout history have been called "design" and the objects that emanate from it, called "the designed". This makes it feasible to find criteria to determine the object of study called "design" and once this is achieved, to establish the epistemological characteristics of the discipline being studied, this determines the so-called Design Theory. From this, it will be possible to create hierarchies and epistemological warps that are intradisciplinary – coming from the very essence of design practice and its particular methodology – multidisciplinary – linked to theories common to disciplines from common foundations, such as the visual arts, communication or architecture, among others – and interdisciplinary – emanating from the diversity of relationships between the disciplinary universe and design methodology.  From whence originate, for example, the pedagogy of design, the psychology of design, etc.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.56238/sevened2024.003-044